


10/07/1983

by butterflyswimmer



Category: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni | Higurashi When They Cry
Genre: Birthday, Comfort, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Post-Canon, Slice of Life, Spoilers, mion bday fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-12-01 00:01:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11474403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butterflyswimmer/pseuds/butterflyswimmer
Summary: For all she was, she was just a girl.





	10/07/1983

It’s the kind of joy she’s simply still not used to, whatever impression she gives. When she catches herself in the mirror as she’s getting ready, she sees she’s already smiling. Some things just don’t get old. That was the magic of it - the excitement only seemed to grow, as time passed, the more they understood how happy they made one another.

 

Her grandmother makes her breakfast that morning, as had been tradition since she was young. She only notices she’s bouncing up and down in her seat when the elderly woman tells her she remembers a time when their meal together was her favourite part of this day, and that she hopes she isn’t keeping her from her friends. Mion feels bad at that, but her grandmother only laughs. I’m glad, Mion, she says.

 

It wasn’t actually her birthday, that was tomorrow - and as her eighteenth, it was an important occasion for the next head of the family. It would be a day full of tedious rituals and greetings - in the end she’d decided the proper celebration should take place today. 

And so, when the doorbell does ring, Mion dashes to answer it.

 

“Mii-chan, happy birthday!” Rena launches at her. She enjoys the embrace for a moment before noticing the absence of the second voice. She can’t help but peer around Rena when she lets go, and her friend’s expression falls slightly.

“There was no answer when I went by Keiichi-kun’s house, it happens sometimes when he sleeps in. I don’t think his parents are here either, so I couldn’t go in.”

She can’t ignore the slight lump in her throat. It was something she only ever noticed when one of the two of them was absent unexpectedly - it never quite felt right, and she felt her own smile falter. He always was a little careless, a little insensitive - that’s why these things happened, and equally why he wouldn’t think it a big deal, she tried to tell herself. He didn’t mean to hurt her.

“Mii-chan?” Rena peers up at her, chewing her lip. Then, her face breaks into an unexpected smile. “Well, actually, I had somewhere special to take you, anyway. Just us, okay? I was going to ask Keiichi-kun to go ahead.”

Before she has the chance to ask, Rena just grabs her hand and pulls her out of the gate, giggling.

-

The sun is already high in the sky despite it not yet being noon. The light bounces back off of every scrap of metal, and the junkyard almost looks welcoming. It had been Rena’s haven for some time now, after all, and Mion clambers down the slopes with ease, following the girl to her trailer, trying to keep her balance as her friend grips her fingers.

Then, before they turn the corner to her secret hideout, Rena stops - jumps behind her, covers her eyes with her palm.

“Rena! I’ll fall!”

Still, the girl leads her, one hand on the small of her back, and she steps forwards carefully, wondering what she could’ve possibly dug up this time. It’s sure to fit her unique tastes, but it still makes Mion smile that she’d thought to do it at all, and soon she’s laughing, too.

“Come on, are we there yet? Is it in your trailer? You can show me now, right? I’ll keep my eyes closed while you go get -”

And then the palm is lifted, and her eyes take a second to adjust to the blinding summer day again.

 

She blinks once, then again, because the landscape of this place they’d grown so used to has changed. It’s changed a lot - a little ways from the trailer Rena loves so much is a car. It’s a little decrepit, and how and why it’s here is a mystery. And then Mion turns to her friend, looks around once she sees her hands are empty.

“You got it right the first time, Mii-chan.”

Rena grabs her hand again, leads her over to the car. It’s not quite next to Rena’s trailer, but it’s not far from it either, and they’re coming up at it from behind, but Mion’s surprised to see it’s in pretty fair condition. It must be a recent addition to the place, of course, and she realises now she hasn’t been here for a few weeks, even though Rena had continued her treasure-hunting escapades the same as always. That’s what she’d assumed she’d been doing after the club activities every day, anyway.

 

As she walks up to and around the car, she sees the windows are clean, as though they’d recently been washed. The car is old, shows signs of wear, but not of resting in the dump, unattended. And still, she’s not sure what she’s looking for, and then Rena leans forwards and opens the door to the passenger seat.

 

What she notices first is the space, because the front two seats are pushed back - only when she leans inside does she see they’re reclining, like strange sunbeds. It’s enough so that she can crawl inside over the junk at her feet, like she’s a child going into a blanket fort - and then Rena follows her, and shuts the door.

 

She’s not sure if the girl’s just hit a switch somewhere, or whether it’s even somehow attached to the mechanism so it’s automatic as the door closes, because Rena’s clever and imaginative like that - but as soon as they’re shut inside, fairy lights come on all around their head, and make it clear the space has been constructed to be more a small room than anything. She’s looking around, mouth agape, only in wonder for the hundredth time at these things that Rena and only Rena’s mind would come up with when her friend taps the windshield, drawing her attention. 

“There’s a blanket tied up here, see? And above all the windows, so it can be dark, even in the day time. And here, there’s matches - but be careful. I use them in mine but it’s a bit more enclosed in here. Still, I saw these in Okinomiya and I know you love this scent.”

And Rena’s indicating candles lined up on the dashboard, and Mion sees now there are a few soft toys scattered around, recognises them from Rena’s own hideout. Some books, blankets, even cushions.

“Rena, I love it! It’s wonderful...!” She trails off, smiling at her friend, wondering distantly if this is where Rena’s keeping her gift. The other girl just watches her patiently.

“You like it, Mii-chan?”

“Of course, didn’t I just say so?” And they only continue to look at each other, and then Rena’s lips twitch.

“You don’t get it, do you?”

“Hm?”

“ _This_ is your present, Mii-chan.”

 

There’s a moment of blanketed silence before Rena starts up again, fiddling with the edge of her dress, her nervous habit. “I mean, I know it’s a little unconventional. But, but! That’s not all!” And she leans over the edge of her seat and pulls out a box. “This is from the whole club! It was a little expensive, so we all saved up a bit! Your uncle said this was the one you wanted most!" 

And indeed, it’s a game from her uncle’s store, one of the rare ones from overseas - usually she’d get discounts, or even the occasional freebie, but this one was a collector’s edition, rare, and he’d been hoping to barter with someone. Mion tries to recall the exorbitant price, shakes her head.

“Hey, wait, slow down...” She stares at the box in her hands, tries to unmuddle her thoughts. It’s then that Rena takes it from her, and cups her cheek, lifts her face so they’re looking right at each other.

“Let me explain. Someone dumped this car here about a month ago. I’d been wondering what to do for your birthday, so I had the idea! It’s your eighteenth anyway, and a lot’s happened, and I wanted something more special than a usual present. It was perfect! So I started making it up. The others helped me clean it, and I worked out the electrics, and I picked up a few bits,” she gestures to the things from her own hideout and home, the candles - the same scent, she’ll later realise, as the perfume she wears, which only Rena would think to identify the flower of. “But the whole point is you can bring your own stuff, and decorate it however you want. Oh, and there’s this! See, lie back!”

And Rena does, in her seat, and she follows suit, and what she sees is a perfect view of the sky, unobscured by the sea of debris.

“It was a bit tricky, but it was nearly in the right position, and Keiichi-kun helped me work something out to move it around a bit.”

And to anyone not from Hinamizawa, it might be hard to understand what’s so special about an old, abandoned car in a junkyard from within which you can lie back and look at the sky, but people who weren't from Hinamizawa didn’t know the stars here shone so brightly they were like the day burning holes through the night.

“But, yeah, we got you this, too.” She presses the game back into Mion’s hands. “And, of course, the others have their gifts. This is just mine.”

And with the babbling and the excitement over, Rena just stares at her, and it’s one of those times where Mion just can’t tell what she’s thinking, only knows she’s looking for a response. “I just hope you like it!”

 

It’s the second time Mion feels a lump in her throat that day as Rena reaches over to switch off the fairy lights and open the passenger door, and she just sits there, clutching the box in her hands tightly. Rena steps out into the day.

“I mean, the idea is that this is your place, and that’s mine over there, but they’re close together, and, well…” Rena gestures to the seats. “I thought we could watch the stars together.”

 

Mion doesn’t know when she even left the car, but suddenly she’s hugging Rena, and already her face is wet, before she’s realised the tears have come. She just presses her face into the other girl’s shoulder, and soon enough there’s a hand placed on her head, then a kiss.

“Happy birthday, Mii-chan.”

-

They’re still chatting away happily as they make their way up the path to the shrine, and so what she would’ve usually been prepared for takes her entirely by surprise: party poppers sounding in unison, and the shower of confetti as she walks through the door. Much to Satoko’s satisfaction, she actually jumps halfway in the air, and the group have already ambushed her before she’s had a chance to process any of it.

“Mii’s birthday, yay!” That’s Rika on one side, jumping around, whilst Satoko laughs triumphantly at the other.

“Not quite on form today, are we, Mion-san? I would’ve expected you to see that coming a mile away.” Still, she’s grinning, obviously pleased with the display. Mion brushes the confetti off her head, grabs Satoko and spins her around, feigning anger. She supposed it wasn’t so bad to lose every once in a while.

 

When they’ve all calmed down, she treads carefully, not putting it past Satoko to lay a trap even on a day like today - but the younger girl has already run back across the room to the cupboard where they keep their bedding.

“Not yet, Satoko, sir.” Rika walks over to her friend, patting her head. “Let’s wait for Keiichi. We can eat.”

She’s not sure what they’re talking about, but they come back to the table in the centre of the room, whip off the cloth together with a flourish. It’s laden with as much food as the three girls could’ve possibly made since school had ended the afternoon prior - Hanyuu is watching everything with a smile. They all squeeze in, five people around a table once for two, and Rika leans over to place a party hat on her head. She’s beaming.

 

They’ve not been eating long when the door is thrown open and Keiichi bursts into the room before doubling over, wheezing. He rushes to take his seat beside her amidst the greetings, omits any usual complaint about their having started without him, only turns to her meekly.

“Oh, someone finally decided to show up!” Mion crosses her arms, can’t help but look to see if he at least has a present, some reason for the delay. Instead, he places his hands together, sincerely bows.

“I’m so sorry! Something came up, ah, it’s not important right now - I made it in the end?” He looks up at her, genuinely worried, and clearly half-expecting to be punched. She’s still contemplating it when Rika pipes up with, “we were doing fine without you, Keiichi.” The girl sticks her tongue out, and Satoko nods firmly in agreement.

“Though, I suppose Keiichi-san’s reaction to my birthday surprise would’ve been even more enjoyable than Mion-san’s!” She smirks.

“Birthday surprise? What was that?”

And just like that, the conversation picks up, and Mion looks around, and her expression softens. They were all together now, and nothing so small could ruin a day like this.

-

By the time they’ve made their best attempt at the mountain of food, she’s forgotten about the potential of further presents, isn’t sure what the young girls would have the money to buy anyway. She’s thinking about how the board game alone was more than enough, about Rena doing what she had even so, is getting misty-eyed again when the three make their way to the same cupboard as before, whispering between themselves as they so often did.

When she turns to her friends, Rena on one side, Keiichi on the other, they’re only smiling - and then it’s being placed on the table in front of her.

Satoko collapses onto her cushion across the table, watching eagerly. Rika keeps her silent smile. Hanyuu’s the one who explains.

 

On the night of Watanagashi, naturally, Tomitake hadn’t been present. It was hardly strange when Takano wasn’t either - you never saw them without each other on that evening. Still, the snap of his camera shutter was notably absent, and when Akasaka had pulled out one of his own to take a picture of his wife and daughter, Rika had quickly enlisted him. For her more than anyone, and more than Mion thought she quite understood, it was, after all, a night to remember.

Still, she’d forgotten about it all soon after the fact - the pictures Akasaka took of them together, as well as their own when he’d gladly relinquished the camera to Rika, all the fun they’d had messing around with it. After all, if Tomitake did anything with the pictures he took every year, they didn’t know it, and never again saw them, as though the whole display was more a promise to hold the evening that only came once a year in their memories.

 

This time, however, had been different. And that was what Mion was seeing as she flipped through the pages of the book in front of her - pictures of her with her friends, drawings, messages, stuck to colourful card pages tied together with string. And on the cover, in Rika’s undeniable, elegant handwriting: _Club Photo Album_.

The book was thick, and only filled partway, so she almost missed the very last page: the group photo Akasaka had taken of them that night, just after Rika’s dance, whilst she was still flushed in the face, clutching a teddy nearly as big as her Keiichi had won from a stall earlier. They’d all crowded into the frame, Mion in the very middle with her hands on Rika’s shoulders. The more she looked, the more she remembered - there’d been a few attempts, and they’d only collapsed further into laughter each time, and Akasaka had only had so much film. The photo in the album was the best they’d managed, and it was still a little blurry, lights dancing in a haze around them, most of them looking and smiling at each other rather than at the camera, but that was fine.

“We’ll have to work hard to fill it up before you go to university!” Hanyuu exclaims. “Then you can take it with you!”

-

She’s still clutching the book to her chest when they leave much later, and her eyes are getting a little puffy from it all. Still, before they’d let her get too emotional, they’d launched into a special edition of the club activities - what was supposed to be the main event of the day. After all, when they’d asked her how she wanted to celebrate, the more she’d thought about it, the more she’d realised she couldn’t think of anything better than spending it as they did any other day. It was her favourite game, perhaps all of theirs, now - Old Geezer.

 

Of course, what it had really turned into was a lot of messing about, and everyone purposefully letting her win whilst trying to make it seem as though they weren’t doing so. In the end they’d surmised they each owed her a punishment game, for her to devise and execute at whichever time she so wished. At this point she'd thought they were getting a little too generous, but then Keiichi grumbled they’d regret it later, and she hadn’t been able to resist telling him he was lucky he was getting off so easy after being late, too.

Four voices sounded in agreement, all with various imaginative suggestions as to what form of special torture he should be put through, and soon enough she had tears in her eyes from laughter instead, and Keiichi was cursing his luck, and she'd almost forgotten it wasn't any other day after all.

 

Evening was falling when she was finally leaving the shack with Rena and Keiichi, aglow from all the excitement and fun, but content for this part of the day to draw to a close. Even when she knew what was left after the feast her family would have later would already last them weeks, the members of the Furude residence had insisted she take the leftovers from their meal, insisting that it was made with such love, and especially for her, and that it wouldn't do for it to be eaten by anyone else. By the time she'd managed to get away, her arms were piled high with boxes, and her heart felt warm in her chest.

She barely listens to the easy conversation as they walk, just smiles, enjoys each moment of this, and already they're coming up to the break in the road where they'd typically part ways when Keiichi touches her arm, pulls her out of her reverie. "Hey, Mion? Can you drop by quickly?"

-

Once they get to Keiichi's gate, Rena hugs her again, and she tries once more to find the words to thank her, but the girl's already bounding away, turning to them again and again to wave happily. Still, there was Monday, and they could go to the junkyard after school.

This is what she's thinking about as Keiichi is already entering his gate, and she's realising she's never even been to his house before. When they reach the door, he fiddles with his keys like he's in a hurry, invites her in.

Finally, she's sitting on the couch, staring at a patch on the wall. Apparently his parents had left for business in Tokyo, and the clock ticks loudly on the wall, and she supposes the day isn't over quite yet, though at this point she has no idea what to expect.

-

It's the last thing he would've expected. When Shion had said it, he'd thought it had been a joke. He was all but ready to disregard the advice and pick something himself when he mentioned it to Rena in passing, discussing the upcoming occasion.

_"A doll? Yes, Mii-chan would love that."_

When he'd asked if there was some joke here he wasn't in on, Rena had just looked at him despairingly. "I guess you could say that, Keiichi-kun."

So he lay in bed that night, and thought. He thought a lot. There'd been a lot to think about.

 

Some part of him supposed Shion had been joking, that day. Or maybe that was what he wanted, or maybe that was what had made sense. On the day that smelt of gunpowder and damp and sounded like hearing your blood roar in your ears - he'd dreamt about it since.

He thought maybe he'd made it up. He'd thought - and the more he'd thought, the less sense it had made.

 

_"The one I love isn't here any more, but my sister has hers."_

 

Questions, voices, quiet, yet echoing wetly around the chamber of ritual implements - then an explosion, gunfire, feet on rungs, Mion and Rena catching him, and the moment was a drop in a thunderstorm. His brain had hummed for days afterwards.

He stands and stares at it now, in his hand, realises all too late he hasn't written a card. This is everything he has.

Why hadn't it made sense? He'd thought about it. That wasn't something he did often. It wasn't that he was stupid - just that he lived life from day to day, never looking back, seizing each moment as it came. He'd learnt too many times, in too many ways - it was the only way to be. Life was something that could slip through your fingers - days could melt into years, or in a single moment your whole world could go dark, with no prior warning. He knew that.

Maybe he didn't like to think, but he'd thought about it. And the more he'd thought about it - about her - the more he'd realised there was to think about.

-

She doesn't know if it's been ten minutes, because even though she'd stared at the clock for so long when she'd sat down, she'd never committed the time to memory. She looks outside instead and only sees the sun casting warm colours that seeps toward the horizon. And it's just Kei-chan, and his parents aren't here, so she supposes it's fine if she goes and gets a glass of water when she realises her mouth has gone utterly dry.

That's where he finds her when he comes downstairs - in the kitchen doorway - alerting her of his presence not with his footsteps but the usual characteristic yell; "D-Don't look in there! I haven't had time to clean it yet!"

It's a tip - there's a suspicious black stain on the wall near the oven, an obscene amount of dirty bowls, open packets of various ingredients, utensils. Flour coats the counter, and something sits in the oven, which has been left hanging open like some signal of defeat. When she turns back to him, he looks completely embarrassed.

"So, you know how I was late today?" He stops, seeming to debate whether he even wants to continue. "Well... I was up last night trying to make a cake forever, but..." His eyes flicker to the bombsite of a room behind her. "...Yeah. I mean. One or two came out okay, but they probably weren't safe to eat, and I knew Rika-chan and the others were cooking, and it would've looked kinda pathetic, honestly."

The way he's looking at her, he seems to be expecting some kind of admonishment, or at least for this discovery of his utter inability to do something so simple to be used against him at some later point. "That's why I accidentally slept in today. I'm really sorry." And he looks it, be it for the lack of a gift, or the lateness, or whatever else. Still, she can feel her lips twitching into a grin, because of course it would be something like this with the boy in front of her, and she's so happy there'd been a reason, and so happy he'd taken the day seriously after all. She's thinking all this - and then she sees what he's carrying.

The laughter is sudden, and nervous. "Lucky I got something else as well!" He thrusts it towards her awkwardly. "Happy birthday, Mion."

 

Her lips are parted for a moment before she remembers she can talk. She looks around the house one more time, looks at him, like she'll find the answer to this overpowering feeling that they've been here before. 

"K-Kei-chan, how... did you...?"

Even though it's the doll she's staring at, he doesn't seem to know what to do with his arms, scratches the back of his head.

"Well," he begins quickly, "I asked Shion, and she told me you said you wanted it, and I thought -" Then, he slows down. Lowers his hands, and smiles, as if at himself. And then it grows, begins to fill his face. The corridor is the colour of summer sunsets. And finally, he laughs, differently this time.

"...There's no way you'd want that, right? That's what I thought. Then Rena said you would too. Then I started to think. Like, actually think."

-

Mion. Their leader. And how long had he known her, really? What did he know, really?

Not much. Not enough.

 

What he did know was this: she was amazing. Amazing fun. Amazingly boisterous, tiring, exciting. Amazing, in a way that made every day something to remember, more so than a whole month would've been back in Tokyo. The kind of person who threw off sparks - or, really, she was more like a firework - and left embers in her wake. Someone warmed your entire day just for having seen her. How much had he laughed, before he met Mion? How much had he smiled? When he thought, he found more answers than there were questions.

And he looks at her now as she reaches out, like she's asking permission, staring at the doll as though she can't believe it.

 

Maybe he was stupid after all.

 

Mion was amazing. She was amazing, from the moment she'd reached out her hand, welcomed him to the class, to the club, to his home, to the moment she'd stood in front of them in the pouring rain, and put her body between them and death itself. She was more than fear, more than pain, and shadows didn't know how to find their way into the rooms she occupied. She'd protected them all long before that day. Keiichi doesn't need to think to know she'd done a thousand amazing things for a thousand people before he'd ever met her. He's not special. 

He's just not. He's a regular guy. That's why he'd had to think. It was laughable - when it came to someone as amazing as her.

Aren't you meant to fall in love with people who shake up your whole world, or make you see colours that you didn't know existed, or whatever? And then, weren't things the wrong way around here? He didn't know what he could've conceivably given her that would ever compare to what she'd given him.

 

_"My sister thought that doll was sooo cute! She'd be delighted if you got it for her."_

_"A doll? Yes, Mii-chan would love that."_

 

She doesn't look like she quite understands, when she stares up at him, still holding the doll in both hands, close to her heart, like it's precious, fragile. The look in her eyes is something he's never seen before - or maybe he'd never looked at them before now. Not properly.

There'd been a lot to think about. And before him now is his best friend, someone he knows entirely, yet doesn't. Someone he loves entirely - maybe that's something he can finally say. And if so, that too is a greater gift than he'll ever be able to give.

She smiles, and her lips are trembling. "Kei-chan... Thank you," then again, "thank you," like she's trying to force the words to be more than they are. "I didn't think you... I mean, I'm so..."

There aren't really words, so he just reaches out, hesitates, then makes his decision. Her hair is softer than he'd expected, which is probably a strange and stupid thing to think, but only part of a long succession of such thoughts in his life, then. He pats her head.

"Happy birthday, Mion."

And it's a little annoying, and he should've written a card. He should've tried to find the words - but she's smiling one of those smiles that you try and dampen it's so wide, so exhilarated. It's not a face he's seen on her before - just one he wants to see more of, now, at least, because it somehow feels like he's already lost so much time, and it makes his heart catch in his chest. Like new colours, or whatever.

 

She's a beautiful person. Something like that. She's amazing, and she's Mion, and there's so much he doesn't know, and he feels selfish, now, for somehow monopolizing that light, rather than reflecting it back. For seeing her only as the dazzling thing she was, when she was more, too. That was it, after all. The most amazing thing of all, and the thing he'd found it easiest to forget - that for everything she was, she was just a girl.

 

She's saying something, and neither of them probably know what it is, but what was important had already been exchanged.

She's standing there, like she's still waiting for something more, and he's wondering if he'll ever have what she deserves - but if she was betting on him, he'd never stop trying.

She's laughing, turning, still holding the doll to her heart, saying, "see you at school." He watches until she's reached the gate, and he wonders if he should've offered to walk her home, but she's too far to shout out to now. Frustrating.

But she turns one more time, and she's still smiling, and looking like she didn't expect him to still be there waiting. And he smiles right back, and he carries on, even after she's left and he's gone back inside, and he doesn't stop. He didn't know cleaning kitchens, of all things, could be so fun.

She's his best friend in this world. And that’s the thought he stops on, more than enough.

-

She's exhausted from it all when she finally sneaks away, but not in a bad way, more the kind where you've squeezed all the possible happiness out of a day, and you know you'll be basking in it for weeks, and now you just need sleep, and to let it all sink into the lining of your heart. She's exhausted, and excited to wake up in the morning and remember it all over again - but there's still one last thing to do.

 

Shion comes in quietly, closing the sliding door. It's already the early hours, and they keep the lights off. She feels her way towards the futons, nearly trips over Mion's feet, giggles. 

"I remember when this was your favourite part of the day," was what her grandmother had said earlier - but she'd been wrong. Breakfast together hadn't been Mion's only birthday tradition, but the second was one nobody knew about but for the two it was for.

 

"I found one! And a candle. It's just little." Shion whips a lighter out of her pocket, flicks it on and off between them playfully. She's rarely so childish, so excited, and it makes Mion forget for a second she's not actually the older of the two of them. They've grown into these roles, confusedly, messily - but made them their own, one way or another. Found themselves through it all.

Sometimes Mion wonders if what had happened back when they were children had been a blessing - those early years of her life were the haziest. They would be, when even your parents so often called you the wrong name. She reaches out, places her hands on Shion's shoulders, as if to affirm she's more than a shape in the dark. A strange relief floods through her fingertips when they touch her sister's shoulders - they sit apart, yet they're not.

 

Mion is happy, because last year, Shion hadn't been smiling, and the years prior to that this was done over the phone, hastily, with whispered words and sentences juddering to a halt every time Shion thought she heard footsteps in the school corridors. Mion's hands don't leave her sister's shoulders.

"I'm so glad you're here."

 

Usually, Shion would tease her light-heartedly. She can't see her expression now, in the dark. She didn't like it, when that playful tone leaked into even these private conversations. It felt like she was losing her. But then Shion lights the candle on the cake between them, and she's just smiling. She seems almost to be talking to herself. "Yeah. I'm home, Onee."

 

The seconds tick, and they wait in observance, like the words ran out years ago, or like it's one of those interludes where they're trying to find them again. If there was anything Mion had learnt from having a second self, it was of growing pains, of what it took to keep up with the passage of time, and how many skins you had to shed, and everything you had to do to hold on to one another. Her heart ached from the thousand times she'd felt it, as much as they remained unborn fears - that there were times they had nearly lost their way entirely.

 

"Onee? It's nearly time."

 

Mion's gifts sit in a pile in one corner, and the doll watches them silently. Sometimes Shion will look at it and smile. She supposed Shion had spent the day at the clinic, and she supposed she knew why, even if they had yet to say it aloud. Still, she smiled at her back, and that was all they needed.

For hours they'd talked and joked and sung and drank with their family, yet the silence wasn't something to adjust to.

 

For a moment the only light is the moon through the window, and Mion wonders if she hasn't wandered right back into her childhood, for the simple peace of it all. When she looks at Shion, she almost expects to see a much younger child, perhaps herself. Instead, there's her sister, pushing her hair behind her ear.

It made her sad sometimes, as much as they bickered - she wondered if anybody in the world really understood the person her twin was, or what she'd been through. What they both had. Shion reaches out and grasps her fingers.

 

"Are you ready?"

 

And yet still, they had each other, and that was one thing Mion couldn't imagine the world without, sure as the ground under her feet. The thing that helped everything make sense - and she knew how lucky she was every time she felt this same comfort, this certainty that she was safe. It was a rare thing to have somebody in this world you could bare your soul to, and it wasn't something you knew until you found it. For her, it had been there before anything, from the moment their hearts had started beating.

They count down together.

It's because they're different that they understand each other - an understanding that sinks beneath words. The warmth of her sister's hand is so reassuring in the dark, and it's what all her senses collect to honour, rather than the light flickering between them.

Midnight strikes, and they blow out the candle together, and they're laughing like they're small again, as they always had, just one of so many things they'd share and understand, those that began and ended making sense between them.

 

Home only exists as somewhere to come back to. Somewhere to come back to only exists if you get lost in the first place.

 

These are the words that come to her now, as these things sometimes do, like when you wake up from a dream that seems to have great meaning you can't quite divine. It sounds about right though, as the flame disappears in the darkness but Shion's hand remains in hers. The warmth is like a lighthouse for her heart, as is the voice she hears ring out in unison with her own: the same, different, and most of all a promise of that thing, home - for all it was, something nobody would ever be able to take from them.

 

""Happy birthday!""


End file.
